a) What should be the base motivation for the creation of public policy (in the Irish context)? In other words, in whose interest do you believe public policy should be pursued/created?

Various people. It's complicated. In the interests of expediency, can you give me multiple choices that I can rank and weight?

Poacher turned gamekeeper wrote:

b) Is that what occurs at present?

If you mean "is the country run in my favourite way?", the answer is no. (Citation: Louis CK)

Poacher turned gamekeeper wrote:

c) If not, why not?

Because I am not the despotic king of Ireland? What are you expecting, some deus ex machina that makes the world the way I want it?

I see.

Let me rephrase once again.

Do you accept that the affairs of the country called Ireland should be managed and run in the best interests* of the majority of Irish people? Could you accept that as an agreeable starting point three pages and three days later?

*to be decided

_________________"It is difficult to be certain about anything except what you have seen with your own eyes, and consciously or unconsciously everyone writes as a partisan.” ― George Orwell, Homage to Catalonia

Do you accept that the affairs of the country called Ireland should be managed and run in the best interests* of the majority of Irish people? Could you accept that as an agreeable starting point three pages and three days later?

*to be decided

It's a start but is way too simple. For starters, how do you define "Irish"? People currently resident? People with Irish citizenship currently resident?

What do you mean by "best interests of the majority"? What does that say about the interests of minorities? How do you group people together?

For instance: if 90% of Irish citizens currently resident are white, should I run the country in the best interests of white people?

_________________"It's easy to confuse what is with what ought to be, especially when what is has worked out in your favour"Tyrion Lannister

Do you accept that the affairs of the country called Ireland should be managed and run in the best interests* of the majority of Irish people? Could you accept that as an agreeable starting point three pages and three days later?

*to be decided

It's a start but is way too simple. For starters, how do you define "Irish"? People currently resident? People with Irish citizenship currently resident?

What do you mean by "best interests of the majority"? What does that say about the interests of minorities? How do you group people together?

For instance: if 90% of Irish citizens currently resident are white, should I run the country in the best interests of white people?

Thanks for that.

Your additional points are fair enough. But at least if theres some degree of common intent then presumably theres at least something to consider.

Personally, I would include all Irish citizens, both resident on the island and elsewhere. There may be a case for excluding non-resident dual nationals but I certainly feel the emigrant constituency, given the history of Ireland, should be included.

Beyond that, Id suggest that considerations around race etc should be disregarded....but Id imagine you're just being funny throwing that one in there....

Somebody else above has queried which majority (as per my previous reference). Which is a fair question also but presumably there can only be one majority within any population segment or whole (unless perhaps within some form of devolved democracy)....and the only way that Im aware of to determine what the majority are in favour of is via the ballot box.....so either full trust in the wider population ie some form of direct democracy or less trust a la our current parliamentary approach (the results of which appear to be pretty disappointing) or something else in between or indeed beyond....Im not really qualified to tease out the various alternatives but maybe somebody else could assist....

However, again with a nod to the other poster, there exists the question of whether the majority of people are actually capable of making informed choices on their own behalf? Its obviously a question that goes to the very heart of the democratic process and is to my mind the ultimate base on which the current wave of populism thats sweeping western countries is based ie many many appear to people feel that they have quite clearly had their wishes ignored for some time now by what are perceived to be an 'elite' class that would appear to issue dictats that apply more to the lives of others than to their own....Now maybe thats a good thing. Personally Id tend toward the view that its bad as it is only ever going to breed resentment and ultimate pushback....

Anyway, resultantly, IMO one of the questions people in Ireland should be addressing (if they wish to avoid a similar occurrence here given that we often tend to replicate trends within our nearest neighbour a few years later), is how best to avoid reproducing the same type of problems that have led to the rise of this populist movement elsewhere? Or maybe its simply inevitable? Id hope with advance warning that we could hope to do a bit better. Although, its possible that an Irish version might manifest itself as a SF or God forbid, a new FF....so Im back to the notion of somebody somewhere (a lot smarter than me) arriving at a vision for the future of this society that is better than the present ie something about which people can be positive and thereby legitimised through some form of collective belief or action...cos right now it doesnt seem to exist....

_________________"It is difficult to be certain about anything except what you have seen with your own eyes, and consciously or unconsciously everyone writes as a partisan.” ― George Orwell, Homage to Catalonia

Woman who shared a room with 15 others in a basement in Dublin. She paid €250 per month for what was advertised as student accommodation for foreign students studying english. 1 bathroom.Upstairs there was another 4 or 5 people per bedroom.

Sounds like the Portobello house featured in the Indo a few weeks back

On Joe Duffy now:Woman who shared a room with 15 others in a basement in Dublin. She paid €250 per month for what was advertised as student accommodation for foreign students studying english. 1 bathroom. Upstairs there was another 4 or 5 people per bedroom. Sounds like the Portobello house featured in the Indo a few weeks back

And did you hear the stand-in hostBut you were not forced to live there. You could leave at any time. There is nothing illegal about it.Caller corrected her on absent legal fire regulations etc.